The six warnings that caused the downfall of the house of Israel anciently, and threaten us today, may be corrected by giving heed to the ensign lifted up in the last days. An ensign is a standard or pennant to be seen by others. The ensign and the time period of it being raised up is identified in the Book of Mormon.
1 But behold, there shall be many—at that day when I shall proceed to do a marvelous work among them, that I may remember my covenants which I have made unto the children of men, that I may set my hand again the second time to recover my people, which are of the house of Israel;
2 And also, that I may remember the promises which I have made unto thee, Nephi, and also unto thy father, that I would remember your seed; and that the words of your seed should proceed forth out of my mouth unto your seed; and my words (the Book of Mormon) shall hiss forth unto the ends of the earth, for a standard unto my people, which are of the house of Israel. [2 Nephi 29:1–2]
The word “hiss” has a different connotation than the present-day meaning of disapproval. As translated from the Hebrew, it means to quietly proclaim. In Isaiah it is used to identify the going forth of the gospel to the ends of the earth. The ensign is further identified in the Doctrine and Covenants:
9 And even so I have sent mine everlasting covenant into the world, to be a light to the world, and to be a standard for my people, and for the Gentiles to seek to it, and to be a messenger before my face to prepare the way before me. [D&C 45:9]
The Book of Mormon is the Ensign used by the Lord to bring his people to the everlasting covenants of the gospel. As they enter into these covenants, they are gathered into the Church, and it becomes an ensign also.
4 For thus shall my church be called in the last days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 5 Verily I say unto you all: Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations. [D&C 115:4–5]
The combination of these ensigns, which are really one ensign, will eliminate the six sins that the Lord warned of earlier in the chapter.
Elder LeGrand Richards has identified verses 27 and 28 as a description of the modern means of transportation that would carry the Lord’s messengers to every nation.
Since there were no such things as trains and airplanes in that day, Isaiah could hardly have mentioned them by name, but he seems to have described them in unmistakable words. How better could “their horses’ hooves be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind” than in the modern train? How better could “Their roaring … be like a lion” than in the roar of the airplane.” Trains and airplanes do not stop for night. Therefore, Isaiah was justified in saying: “none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken?” With this manner of transportation the Lord can really “hiss unto them from the end of the earth,” that “they shall come with speed swiftly.” [Marvelous Work and a Wonder (1967), 236]
Elder Orson Pratt referred to the immigrants’ coming to Salt Lake by railroad in two or three days, instead of ninety or one hundred days it took before the railroad, as an example of Isaiah’s prophecy being fulfilled (see JD, 16:84, under General Authorities Quotes, end of chapter).